Tranquility Within

In an age of endless noise, rushing about, and too many tasks and activities, where do we find tranquility?

Delcie Light

The French writer La Rochefoucauld, said, "When were are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere."

i know many people who feel over extended, over committed, and hollow. They are weary of the rush, of the search for happiness, and some admit they don't know what they are looking for, but they know they have not found whatever it is.

I also know people who have every material thing and are free of financal worries. Still they seem restless and unhappy. They travel. They buy "stuff": cars, toys, houses, and then rent storage places for their excess. They diet, exercise, or surgically change their appearance. They change spouses. They search the Internet for Romance. They watch sports for thrills. They use booze and pills in the frenzied search for Happines or Tranquility. They hire therapists, psychics, and gurus to guide them. They even change religions.

T.S. Eliot wrote a poem called "The Hollow Men," which expresses the anxiety and sense of loss and emptness after war in Europe. I also think of one of my favorite dramas, "Waiting for Godot." Two men wait and wait for Godot who never arrives. As Americans we believe we are entitiled to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." And bars used to offer "Happy Hour."

What is the Happiness or Tranquility we seek/ I think de Rochfauld was correct---it is within us. We just need to listen to our hearts.